Tina Smith

ST. PAUL — Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has won the race for Tina Smith's U.S. Senate seat, according to unofficial results late Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Democrat Flanagan, 47, of St. Louis Park, had 54% of the vote to Republican Michele Tafoya's 43%, with 2,749,612 votes counted by 12:12 a.m. Wednesday.

Tafoya, 61, of Edina, conceded the race to Flanagan late Tuesday night.

In her victory speech late Tuesday night, Flanagan said Minnesota “just beat Donald Trump again” and that “America did too.”

“You said no more war, no more healthcare cuts,” she said. “No more taking food away from children and seniors. No more selling this country off to the highest bidder. And you said no more masked goons shooting our neighbors and terrorizing our communities.”

In her concession speech, Tafoya said the “voters spoke, and so we're going to respect the voters.” She said, "Now we’ve got to move on.”

“One thing that we did do in this race, folks, is we made it very clear that there should be consequences when you deceive the people of a state, when you rob the people of the state, when you do not serve the people of the state,” she said. “We didn't see those consequences the way that we wanted to tonight, but we're going to continue to send that message.”

Tafoya asked her supporters to hold their heads up high with her and pointed to the blue wave seen around the nation Tuesday.

“We fought like hell. We did the best that we could do in the circumstances, and as has been seen all over the country tonight, the circumstances were tough,” Tafoya said.

It was a grueling campaign that led them both to election night.

Flanagan centered her campaign on affordability and pushing back against President Donald Trump, saying Tafoya would be a “rubber stamp” on Trump and attempting to tie her opponent to his policies.

Toward the end of the campaign, Tafoya began to distance herself from Trump — despite receiving his endorsement — saying the war in Iran should end. She also leaned into her identity of being a “pro-choice Republican,” and marketed herself as a more independent candidate.

Tafoya notably gained the support of national Senate Republicans early on but didn’t gain the support of state Republicans initially. She beat GOP-endorsed Adam Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL, in the Aug. 11 primary. Flanagan ran largely unopposed.

Flanagan also had a hard-fought primary against Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who framed herself as the more moderate candidate. Craig argued that Republicans would have a “field day” with fraud and Flanagan, given she was the No. 2 under Walz.

The race gained some national attention. The DFL primary was one of many tests across the nation to see if voters would opt for a more moderate or left-leaning candidate, much like in the Michigan U.S. Senate race.

In a visit to Minnesota, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the historically blue Senate seat wouldn't usually be on the map for them, but the frustration with fraud, in part, put the race on their radar. Republicans haven't won a statewide race in 20 years.

The U.S. Senate term is six years, and as of 2026, the job has a salary of $174,000.